Pre-Heresy Abaddon color scheme?

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

So... does Abaddon really have a pre-Heresy scheme, or what? Red pauldrons, right? I'm looking into picking up one each of the old Chaos Champion sculpts (I already have Typhus in resin) and painting them up pre-Heresy. I looked, and he's still wearing black. Did the Luna Wolves have a different scheme or what? I just don't want him to be mistaken for standard Black Legion.

[Dagoth Ur]

So... does Abaddon really have a pre-Heresy scheme, or what? Red pauldrons, right? I'm looking into picking up one each of the old Chaos Champion sculpts (I already have Typhus in resin) and painting them up pre-Heresy. I looked, and he's still wearing black. Did the Luna Wolves have a different scheme or what? I just don't want him to be mistaken for standard Black Legion.

 

As far as I remember, the Justaerin (Of which Abaddon was the leader during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy), have always worn red pauldrons and black armour. Now, Abaddon was also leader of the first company during the days of the Luna Wolves, i.e. before the legion was renamed and repainted after the victory at Ullanor. I don't know if the first company terminators at the time also bore black and red livery, but I think they did.

[Dr_Ruminahui]

You might want to ask this question in the Age of Darkness forum - if anyone can give you the definitive answer, it is likely someone there.

[Grotsmasha]

It's probably this one 

[Marshal Loss]

As the leader of the Justaerin and a member of the first company, he wore black armour pre-Heresy. In the Sons of Horus the first company wore black, and various elite units (including but not limited to the first company) featured red as part of their panoply as well. All of FW's art of both Abaddon and the Justaerin show them wearing black with a single red pauldron. This echoes the first ever colour picture of 40k era Abaddon, where he wears black and gold with a red talon.

 

Even post-Heresy (in ADB's Talon of Horus & Black Legion) he is still wearing the same suit of armour (although modifications are still made over time), still wearing the same colours. His aesthetic and profile never really change. The best way to distinguish 30k era Abaddon from 40k era Abaddon is to remove the trophy rack(s) and change his weapons. Cataphractii (as opposed to Indomitus) shoulders also help change his profile. If you're using the Jes Goodwin model you'll need to modify it or just accept that people will confuse it with 40k era Abaddon.

[ChazSexington]

In Talon of Horus, he's described as wearing power armour with scavenged pieces from every single Traitor Legion. I canny mind if he's mentioned as wearing Loyalist pieces as well.

 

His pre-Heresy/Heresy Cataphractii TDA was, of course, the black of the Justaerin. 

[MegaVolt87]

His new armour model looks nothing like cataphractii plate. I would argue it looks more like tartaros plate.

[ChazSexington]

His new armour model looks nothing like cataphractii plate. I would argue it looks more like tartaros plate.

That's because it's post-Heresy.

 

This is Heresy-era Abaddon:

 

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-NO/Abaddon-and-Loken

[Zephaniah Adriyen]

I was actually going to pick up the old metal for Abaddon, Ahriman, Lucius and Khârn, just to have a silly brigade of old metal Chaos Champions running across the table. Y'know, the Failbaddon sculpt.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_IdProBvGRVE/S9WbPe74AGI/AAAAAAAAAQQ/KHe_tEgUkkE/s1600/AbbadonGW.jpg

[Marshal Loss]

In Talon of Horus, he's described as wearing power armour with scavenged pieces from every single Traitor Legion. I canny mind if he's mentioned as wearing Loyalist pieces as well.

 

His pre-Heresy/Heresy Cataphractii TDA was, of course, the black of the Justaerin. 

 

That's his pilgrimage armour. There is art of it (well, an artist's interpretation) from the Ltd Ed:

 

 

 

 

 

His new armour model looks nothing like cataphractii plate. I would argue it looks more like tartaros plate.

 

It is Indomitus armour, not Tartaros, just like the original model. Black Legion provides the justification that he is already altering and modifying it - his original suit - prior to the first Black Crusade, so presumably over time he replaces his armour's components with what is more readily available.

[Deadass]

Regarding the OP: Abaddon's pre-heresy / heresy-era color scheme is the one shown above by ChazSexington; that's the one he used when the legion was already renamed.
However, I've stumbled upon this artpiece a couple of times while scouring the web for SoH art:
 
http://www.frontlinegaming.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Abaddon-9.jpg
 
While Horus' equipment doesn't match up with what he used during the sixteenth's period as the Luna Wolves, I do think it's canon, or was at least released by FW [if someone knows more about where that picture comes from, please let me know - even if it turns out to be fanart). Either way, Abaddon's in the background with white shoulder pads, which would suggest that that was the norm for the Justaerin back then.
 
There's also this quote from Horus Rising about the Catulan Reaver Squads:
 

he black figures rose up out of the tower’s depths, ascending slowly, vertically, up through the open centre of the ring platform. Ten Astartes warriors, the blue heat of their whining jump pack burners shimmering the air behind them. Their power armour was black, trimmed with white. Catulan Reaver Squad, First Company’s veteran assault pack.

Since the Catulan Reaver and Justaerin color schemes aren't far off from each other in the Sons of Horus-era, I suppose it would be reasonable to assume that they were similar during their time as the Luna Wolves.

I'm aware that all of this may not count as substantial evidence, but it is some food for thought if you don't wanna go with red and black.

 

 

 

His new armour model looks nothing like cataphractii plate. I would argue it looks more like tartaros plate.

 

It is Indomitus armour, not Tartaros, just like the original model. Black Legion provides the justification that he is already altering and modifying it - his original suit - prior to the first Black Crusade, so presumably over time he replaces his armour's components with what is more readily available.

 

Yup, pretty much that. As an aside, I'd have preferred it if Seb Perbet and Jes Goodwin updated Abaddon's design according to his 30k mini like Maxime Pastourel did with Typhus, but as they explained in the design interview they chose to go with his more iconic design in Indomitus-pattern armor, which is fine too.

[Marshal Loss]

  I do think it's canon, or was at least released by FW [if someone knows more about where that picture comes from, please let me know - even if it turns out to be fanart).

 

Fan-made, not canon.

[Gederas]

His new armour model looks nothing like cataphractii plate. I would argue it looks more like tartaros plate.

It is Indomitus armour, not Tartaros, just like the original model. Black Legion provides the justification that he is already altering and modifying it - his original suit - prior to the first Black Crusade, so presumably over time he replaces his armour's components with what is more readily available.

Errr... You sure about that? Because everything I can find calls his armour "Early model terminator armour" (before Cataphractii got named) and then "customized Catapharactii Pattern Terminator Armour".

[Marshal Loss]

 

His new armour model looks nothing like cataphractii plate. I would argue it looks more like tartaros plate.

It is Indomitus armour, not Tartaros, just like the original model. Black Legion provides the justification that he is already altering and modifying it - his original suit - prior to the first Black Crusade, so presumably over time he replaces his armour's components with what is more readily available.

Errr... You sure about that? Because everything I can find calls his armour "Early model terminator armour" (before Cataphractii got named) and then "customized Catapharactii Pattern Terminator Armour".

 

 

To boil down decades of lore and art as succinctly as I can:

• Abaddon was introduced to 40k by Jes Goodwin wearing what is most certainly Indomitus pattern Terminator armour.
• He wears a highly modified custom suit of Terminator armour pre/during the Heresy ("Justaerin warplate"). While not technically Cataphractii, it matches the aesthetic perfectly.
• Abaddon continues to wear this same suit of armour after forming the Black Legion, modifying parts and components over time to eventually give us what we see today.

The model we have in 40k is wearing an Indomitus-styled suit of armour. Look at the pauldrons, the extra armour around his thighs, the shape of the torso's cowl, the rear of his legs, the vents on his back. It might not technically be an Indomitus suit in the same way that his Cataphractii suit was not technically a Cataphractii suit; it is a custom suit of armour built for his frame and which has been modified over the course of thousands of years of fighting, after all, so it is far from a factory standard, but calling the 40k-era design anything other than Indomitus-styled would be erroneous.

[Closet Skeleton]

This echoes the first ever colour picture of 40k era Abaddon, where he wears black and gold with a red talon.

 

Horus originally wore red armour, so the Talon of Horus being red might be for that reason rather than being an Abaddon thing.

 

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/4/4e/Emperor-and-horus-mini.jpg

 

The second (40mm base) 'eavy metal iteration of the Jes Goodwin sculpt dialed back the red and gave us a black talon.

[Marshal Loss]

 

This echoes the first ever colour picture of 40k era Abaddon, where he wears black and gold with a red talon.

 

Horus originally wore red armour, so the Talon of Horus being red might be for that reason rather than being an Abaddon thing.

 

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/4/4e/Emperor-and-horus-mini.jpg

 

The second (40mm base) 'eavy metal iteration of the Jes Goodwin sculpt dialed back the red and gave us a black talon.

 

 

You know, that's actually a connection I had somehow never made despite my fanaticism. Many thanks!